Luvuyo Rani grew up during the 1980s, in the hard-scrabble streets of the Eastern Cape’s Komani. He remembers the struggle and the poverty – but also the indomitable community spirit and resilience all around him, characteristics he says that he still sees today in South Africans from all walks of life.

His energy leaps off the screen as we chat on Zoom. He laughs often, and speaks with humility and humour about his journey from being the ‘slow learner’ at school, to winning a prestigious Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship Award in 2016 as an outstanding changemaker in social innovation.

It was his mother who ignited his entrepreneurial spirit. She ran a shebeen, where he had to lend a hand from an early age.

‘It was illegal for a woman to run a shebeen and there were many police raids,’ Luvuyo remembers. ‘But each time, my mother would start over because she had no choice. She had to provide for us. My dad was a nurse and his wages weren’t enough to make ends to meet.’

His mother’s bravery and grit have left an indelible impression on Luvuyo. ‘Being an entrepreneur can be a tough and lonely road. It can mean an emotional rollercoaster. It has the potential to divorce you from your loved ones.

‘It takes persistence when things aren’t working. My mother taught me that first lesson in the art of trying again and again.’

He was always hungry for education, but only started finding his feet academically in Grade 10. ‘Once I left maths and physics behind, I went from number 60 in a class of 65 to one of the top five.’ He laughs. ‘History, biology and geography were more my thing. It’s important to find what you’re good at.’

Learning at the coal face

After school, Luvuyo spent a year at home.

‘It was 1994. Mandela time. I thought about studying law, but there was no money. That’s when I learnt how tough it is when you can’t find employment. What it does to you and your self-esteem; your confidence. I could see no way out of poverty, other than getting an education.’

His single-mindedness paid off. He obtained two degrees from the Cape Peninsula University of Technology in Cape Town – one in commerce and education, and the other in business administration.

He became a teacher, but the tiny seed that his mother had planted was taking root. ‘I had no business plan to speak of, but I could see the opportunity for IT services in Khayelitsha, where I lived.’ So he began selling refurbished computers from the boot of his Corsa Lite.

This is how he and his brother, Lonwabo, started what is now Silulo Ulutho Technologies – with a R10 000 bank loan that allowed them to buy computers to resell. There is undoubtedly an element of it being in your blood, Luvuyo says when I ask him whether entrepreneurs are born or made.

‘The ability to see opportunity, the appetite to try, belong to a certain type of person. But enterprises are built through learning and experience. I had to learn at the coalface to grow Silulo into what it has become.’

And what Silulo has become is a provider of educational and entrepreneurship opportunities in townships across South Africa, through a franchising model. Their 43 branches in and around townships in the Eastern and Western Cape employ 132 staff members.

In addition to IT training and servicing, they offer services like CV writing and help with finding employment. To accomplish this, they work in tandem with companies like Tsiba, Microsoft and Vodacom that are generous at helping to secure jobs for Silulo’s students.

Operating like a social business, not an NGO

It doesn’t depend on fundraising or grants. It’s a multimillion-rand business that is self-sustaining while addressing the same issues an NGO would. Being as successful as this requires inner work and self-care.

Luvuyo says: ‘Entrepreneurs tend to be people who care deeply for others, but don’t know how to care for themselves.’

He first became aware of the importance of inner work when he attended the retreats in Switzerland, Sweden and California that were part of the Schwab Foundation’s award.

‘One of the challenges I had was to address the self-doubt rooted in my background. But for success, you also need humility.’

‘Your life changes when you start making money. Where do I stay? What do I drive?’‘

Those are all things that can lure you to take your eye off the goal. Entrepreneurs often drink their own Kool-Aid. I equate them with the MacGyvers of the world. For true success, you have to continue to look for, and at, the bigger picture.

‘You must stay grounded. Yes, I am successful in South Africa – but in a global context, I am nothing. Remaining humble and accessible is important. Today, I have the confidence to engage with the President, but I am just as comfortable chatting to someone I’ve just met on the street.’

Luvuyo has incorporated the habits of continuous inner work into his day-to-day routine and this allows him to keep an emotional equilibrium, something that is critical for him to be able to focus at work.

He is a deeply spiritual person. ‘I spend time and energy on the inner me. I have rituals. I meditate. I focus on gratitude. I write letters to God, my son, my wife, my friends. I take walks.

‘From eight o’clock in the morning, I face a lot of complexity in my world. If I don’t take time for myself, I’m unable to be the creative person I need to be to deal with all that complexity.’

I notice a picture of Patrice Motsepe’s biography on Luvuyo’s Instagram feed (the star of which is his adorable four-year-old son, Ndoda). I ask him if Motsepe is one of the entrepreneurs he considers a role model.

‘Patrice Motsepe is not an entrepreneur; he’s a dealmaker,’ Luvuyo laughs. ‘There is much to be admired about him, but he is not a role model for me.

‘I think we are still evolving as a country when it comes to the entrepreneurial space. I loved tata Mteto Nyati’s book Betting on a Darkie, and I admire his depth of leadership. And, of course, there are great success stories like Richard Maponya and Herman Mashaba, but they are from a different era. ‘In our democratic era, there aren’t many I look up to.’

‘For social entrepreneurs, it is never only about the money; there is always a higher purpose. To keep standing through the difficult times and the challenges that will inevitably come your way, you have to understand the deeper why of what you are doing.’

For Luvuyo, that is bridging the digital divide. Or, in his words, ‘destroying the digital divide’.

'Technology is a tool to address poverty.’

From the desperate year after matric when he could not even find a menial job, to the heights of his undreamt-of success, Luvuyo’s journey has been inspirational and extraordinary.

There are two accolades that he particularly cherishes.

‘In 2014, I won the JCI Outstanding Young Person in the World award. I had just turned 40. It was a fantastic way to enter my fourth decade. And then, of course, in 2016, there was the Schwab Foundation award.

‘That award opened my mind to grow beyond South Africa to the SADC region, but it was also highly formative for me on other levels. I attended all the World Economic Forum events and training programmes at Harvard.

‘That, and Davos, were big moments for me. I’d struggled to get an education, and being able to attend one of the best universities in the world was a profound experience.’

Resilience – or, as he says, ‘the ability to keep going, to try again and again when things get tough’ – runs like a golden thread through our conversation.

‘One of the lowest points on my journey was when a criminal syndicate tried to extort a protection fee from me to be able to operate my business. Our work at Silulo is about collective healing, and creating hope through skills and employment.

‘I struggled with the idea that anyone would want to destroy what we were trying to build, in communities where there is such need. Ironically, Covid-19 came to the rescue because it forced us to close down for a while.’

The other moment was an armed robbery during 2015 at his flagship branch in Khayelitsha. It left him and his staff traumatised.

‘I couldn’t cope. I could not sleep. The experience violated my belief in the bigger picture. We go through so much trauma in this country. As an entrepreneur, I can see the opportunities in the townships and, intellectually, I know the roots of crime lie in this country’s economic and political legacy. Still, it is a huge impediment to progress.’

It also lies at the heart of much of the trauma we carry, he believes. ‘It lies in poverty, in abuse, in homes where children grow up feeling unworthy.’

Why it’s important to hit pause

‘We are trying to move forward without acknowledging this deep-seated problem. There is much healing that has to take place first.’

It is something he had to address in his own life. ‘My father died in a bus accident 20 years ago. Because of a family feud, we never mourned his passing.

‘Years later, during a retreat in Switzerland, I realised the importance of my deep connection with my ancestors and, when I came home, I took steps to lay his spirit to rest.

‘If we don’t pause and deal with trauma, we carry it over to the next generation.’ This is precisely what he doesn’t want for his son.

‘I became a father relatively late, at 44. I am grateful now that it happened in this way because it allows me to be present for my son. When my father wasn’t at work, he was having fun with his friends. I don’t want that for Ndoda. That’s why I no longer work on weekends; I need that time with my boy.’

At the same time, Luvuyo feels a responsibility to step up and open doors for others.

‘In some organisations where I have a seat at the table, there are few Black people. Sometimes I am the only Black person in a room of 200. I know I carry the aspirations of the brothers and sisters who will come after me. I sit at that table not for my advancement, but so that there will be more like me.’

For Luvuyo, his role as an entrepreneur has a higher purpose. ‘It is critical in life, in business and in South Africa.

‘I am optimistic. There are deep shifts taking place in our country. I envisage a future South Africa where those in charge will be people who care about delivery, and not ideology. People who care about other people.

‘We are a resilient nation. We have lived through many challenges. We find solutions to problems, but we need leadership from individuals who have a higher purpose to serve this nation. Builders.’

Entrepreneurs are the ultimate builders, he believes. ‘But we need builders with the patience to grow something that will last for 20 to 50 years. Who have a long-term vision. I have been building Silulo for 18 years – and I am still building it.’

Where to find Silulo

Website: Silulo.com; Facebook: @OfficialSiluloUluthoTechnologies

This article originally appeared in Nine Yards magazine 2023. Read the rest of the magazine here.